How Kingdom Enduro began, Part 1.

Kingdom Enduro – How it all began… part 1

After years of riding and scouting in Lesotho for the Lesotho Sky UCI MTB stage race. Finding many amazing single tracks that were just too hard, too knarly or too dangerous to send a XCM UCI stage race through (although we are well renowned for knarly riding as it is). We found that there is so much more to ride, we just need bigger bikes…

Chris and Darol's scouting setup at Roma Trading Post in 2011

Darol Howes and Christian Schmidt scouting for the 2011 Lesotho Sky

It wasn’t long after that Rene Damseaux rocked up at Roma Trading Post lodge (our basecamp) and shared his dream of starting a world class multi day enduro stage race in the Kingdom of Lesotho – the Kingdom Enduro.

Christian Schmidt and myself started the Lesotho Sky MTB stage race in 2011 so we have all the skill necessary to pull off such an event. However we needed Rene’s vast knowledge of building, trails and endure events around the world. Together we felt that we could really pull this off.

So Rene left Italy and moved to Lesotho where he immediately started finding and grooming some of the most knarly and amazing trails I have ridden in Lesotho. Fortunately my new enduro machine arrived a few months earlier and I got a month or two of riding lifts in Switzerland to warm up for Rene’s creativity.

Darol Howes and Rene Damseaux go scouting before the Recce Weekend with all the shenanigans involved.

First things firstVenue – Check (roma trading Post Lodge)Routes – Check (Rene’s last couple of months in the mountains)Logistics – 7 Years of Lesotho Sky planning, think we good.Permissions – After years of permissions from Lesotho Sky we have a good relationship with the chiefs of the area. Thabo- our community liaison has an ongoing task of keeping everyone happy in the community. And we do our best to contribute and make Lesotho a better place for everyone.Photos – I have for some time been carrying my DSLR around on the bike. I grabbed a few cracking shots to start- the rest we would need to take on the recce.Video – A few go pro clips with some Claudio Calouri-esk commentary from Rene- think we need some more- more need for the recce.Test the concept– Enter the Recce Weekend- Keep a look out for our next post about the Recce Weekend

With us all working to put this together we are getting rather amped! The riding, people, culture and views really need to be shared with the world.